Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Today on the economic roundtable discussion on the News Hour, every speaker referred to "the recovery" without remarking that it was here already. Yes, we have turned the corner. It will be some time before the economic recovery benefits all people, but it seems the stimulus package has worked. Now we have to use the economic news positively. Obama must remind the American people that the Republican "plan" was to do nothing - or worse, as Republican majority leader Boeher wanted, to cut spending - and allow the "free market" to recover on its own. A Christian Scientist approach to economic healing. Time to reward Specter, Snowe, and Collins publicly for having the political bravery to side with the President.

4 comments:

I think Obama will do precisely as you have said as soon as the numbers become reliably positive again. Unprecedented, coordinated government action stopped the massive financial collapse from precipitating an even more massive economic collapse. Those in the Republican party who opposed government intervention in the economy--those latter-day Herbert Hoovers--were once again proven wrong. I hope they feast upon a banquet of humble pie in the months to come. Alas, people rarely get their comeuppance in real life.

Bernake's re-appoints says it all. Our is truely an amazing country. What are the chances of getting a specialist on the Great Depression appointed to the FED just before a, well, Depression? And I'm a little amazed that he was initially appointed by the Bush administration.

While George W. Bush knew little about running a business and even less about running a country, he knew a thing or two about finance. He made a wise appointment to the Fed and also took decisive action to curb financial panic in Sept 2008. (Perhaps the MBA paid off for him after all...) In yet another of the delicious ironies that makes history so fascinating, I believe future generations will judge Bush's finest act as President to be that swift government intervention in the financial markets--an act to which the vast majority of his fellow conservatives remain bitterly opposed.